Increasingly it is desired to improve a fuel economy of vehicles, particularly, although not exclusively, vehicles powered by fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel. Although it will be realised that improving the fuel economy of any vehicle, including electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered vehicles, for example, is also desired. Some efforts at improving the fuel economy of vehicles are focussed on increasing an efficiency of the vehicle, such as a mechanical and/or electrical efficiency of the vehicle. It has also been realised that the manner in which a vehicle is driven can have a significant impact of the vehicle's economy.
Knowing the current gear and the maximum gear of a vehicle can be useful for various purposes. For example, having this information allows current gear information to be collected or driving behaviour to be monitored. This information also allows the development of methods and systems for monitoring the performance of drivers of vehicles over one or more journeys, and methods and systems for providing feedback to a driver in order to promote more economical driving.
It is possible to get vehicle status information from an on-board diagnostics (OBD) port of the vehicle. There is a set of standard parameter id's (pids) that may be provided by a majority of current road vehicles. The currently engaged gear and the maximum gear are not part of the standard set.
Therefore, a method of determining at least the currently engaged gear and the maximum gear for a wide range of vehicles is required.